A Rochester teenager has been charged in connection with a string of reports of multiple shots being fired between two cars last week.
Thaddeus Merritt, 19, faces a felony charge of drive-by shooting. Merritt was already in police custody at the time of the charges on an unrelated matter.
Police received the first report around 6:37 p.m. Tuesday when someone reported seeing a light blue car and a black car chasing each other in the area of 41st Street and West River Parkway, Rochester Police Capt. John Sherwin said a day after the incident. The caller said the two cars collided.
A second call came in around 6:45 p.m. from a person in the area of 14th Street Northwest and Valleyhigh Drive Northwest.
Multiple witnesses told police they saw a black car and a light blue car at the intersection, Sherwin said. A witness reported to police that the blue car stopped, blocked both lanes on 14th Street Northwest and a man got out, ducked behind the car and fired a gun at the black car, Sherwin said.
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Another witness told police they heard an exchange of gun fire.
A third call came in around 6:55 p.m. from the area of the 3200 block of Oxford Lane Northwest. The caller reported two vehicles chasing each other and shots being fired between the two, Sherwin said.
Officers on scene searched several blocks of Oxford Lane and found multiple shell casings from at least two different guns, Sherwin said.
An officer found a light blue vehicle parked and empty in the Lincolnshire Park parking lot. Witnesses at the park told police they saw at least four men get out of the car before police arrived, according to Sherwin.
Police eventually found three handguns in the car, two of which were stolen, according to Sherwin. On Friday, police found the second car, Sherwin said. It had two bullet holes on it.
